Do you have an idea about your Shower's Return on Investment?
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This is an interesting idea, I am looking forward to seeing people's answers. I hadn't really thought about it but now I am realizing that we will (eventually) probably have a shower in our hometown and quite frankly the travel costs will probably out weigh the "stuff" from the shower. The obvious other side of that is getting to celebrate and spend time with people we love and don't see often-- which we would happily do whether there were gifts involved or not.
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I don't think I understand the question??
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@Mrs. Jump Rope: comparing the amount spent on your shower vs the cost of gear you received. I know showers are hosted, so a guest of honor may not know exactly how much was spent on her behalf. I realize not every shower is over the top blog worthy, but I imagine a shower costs easily a couple hundred if not over $1, 000.
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Hmm... I never thought about it this way since most showers are hosted by someone else!
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I had three showers with my first (work, friends and family) and all of the hosts only spent about $100.
We didn't get a lot of gear just a ton of clothes but each shower, I probably received $500 in gifts? That's just an estimate.
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Our ROI was very high since my MIL hosted the shower... so we paid $0 and got about $2000+ (we got a LOT of gear and were team green) worth of stuff? But she did cater sandwiches and had some bubbly, so I'd say it was about 566%?
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As far as I can calculate we did a little better than breaking even. I know how much was spent because we were in a weird situation where we paid for most of a shower that my friends technically threw (they couldn't afford to do much), but my DH did pretty much all the work. We had BBQ food catered (and WAY over estimated how much we needed) and a cake from a bakery. The venue was free (family member's back yard) and tables and tents were provided by the host family's employer. FIL provided drinks.
Total shower expenses = $1700 for 50ish attendees
Food = $1050
Decorations = ~$525 (DH was trying to hard and went way overboard)
Hostess Gift = $85
Total gifts = ~2400
~$1400 in registry gifts
$500 estimated in off registry gifts (clothes, decor, handmade items, books and cash),
$500 from FIL for food.This doesn't include about $3k in presents we received from my parents and MIL that we would have received regardless of having a shower.
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3 showers $800 that we paid (restaurant bill) one was work the ither my mil paid $200? In food
We got well over $1500 in gear clothes money etc
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I would estimate between the two showers each host spent about 200 or so: total cost about 400
Gifts we received: probably about 800+ worth of stuff (:
I would say 200% would be a fair guess.
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I have to say, I don't think the question is relevant due to the fact that most or none of us hosted our own baby showers.
Why not just put up a poll asking in dollar amounts how much you got in presents?
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@Pink Champagne: becasue that is not my question.
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I think at least one of ours will be pretty low in strictly money terms because three of the lovely hostesses (my college roommates) are flying in for the weekend. But it makes me insanely happy to have all the girls back together for a weekend, so the emotional ROI is high.
Curious as to why you asked the question - I've never thought about it when I've thrown showers - probably because I really love to plan parties and hand make all the invites/decorations, so I rarely even think about the cost in general and often don't really make a budget.
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: it kind of is.
ROI stands for "return on investment". If a baby shower was hosted for you, then there is no return on YOUR investment, and there is no return on the hosts investment because they didn't receive any compensation for hosting the shower.
See?
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@Mrs. Jump Rope: I could have worded my question better as I am aware ROI means the person shells out the funds and reaps her own awards. I know several people who have funded their own showers besides the one poster on this thread.
@stine_ciro: I'm just curious if showers are worth the expense. Wether spending my own money or someone elses I don't like to see money wasted. Obviously, if a mother to be is gifted a shower and I a bunch of gifts she is coming out ahead. I get that.
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@Mrs. Jump Rope: was your "it kind of is..." in response to what I wrote back to Mrs.Champagne? I could care less how much a person received in gear. That amount alone doesn't help me understand how much was spent on the shower to make that gear gifting possible.
Some charities spend major bucks hosting donors at high dollar gala events. Even though they raise funds I am always curious about the cost to rent the space, provide food and entertainment, set up a silent and live aucyion etc. Was it worth it? Is it necessary?
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime - I'm always curious about the ROI for charity events as well - my sister works in non-profit and I know that it takes a lot of money upfront to get the donations, and sometimes its not worth it.
I guess I just don't think of a shower in those terms because for me, throwing a shower is just as much about making me happy as doing something nice for the mom/bride-to-be because I enjoy it so much. Just as I wouldn't consider spending money on our annual backyard movie party or buying really good cupcakes for my team at work as money wasted. I get pleasure from doing those things, therefore it was worth it.
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: whether showers are worth the expense I guess depends on how you view the expense, and the reward. If you are only straight up looking at "how much it cost me to feed you" - "how much was your gift worth monetarily", maybe a shower won't be worth the expense. But most showers are your friends and family getting together to have fun, tell fun stories and spend time together; and IMO you can't really assign a dollar figure to spending time with people who care enough about you to dedicate a day to you, regardless of whether or not you, or they, make money in the process. KWIM?
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@stine_ciro: Agree with this sentiment about showers.
I guess if you're going into a shower only seeing it as a way to "reap rewards," it's kind of...not the point in MY opinion. For me, a shower is more about celebrating with family and friends and celebrating the momma/baby. Yes, of course getting a few cute outfits and diapers is a nice touch, and of course, it's basically guaranteed that everyone will bring a gift, but if you're simply trying to weigh out if it's monetarily "worth it," just save yourself and your guests (especially your guests...) any disappointment and go buy your own gear.
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@ms.janedoe: said it much more eloquently than I could have.
I didn't view my shower as a money-making event. I didn't care how much ppl spent on a gift or if they even brought a gift. I just wanted to hang out w/ my friends and celebrate the fact that I was gonna be a momma. I didn't throw my own shower but if I did, I wouldn't look for ways to throw the cheapest party I could so I could maximize on my "earnings" (for lack of a better word). My focus would be on throwing a nice party, and that's it!!
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None of the showers that have been thrown for me cost even hundreds of dollars. They have all been at someone's house, simple "shower food" (appetizers, pastries, salads, punch), and minimal or homemade decorations. So the "ROI" is probably quite high, since at one of my showers I was gifted a crib, crib mattress, car seat, stroller, and changing table. I never in a million years expected to be gifted such big ticket items.
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My friends paid for the food and decor and we paid the open bar tab...it was a lot of fun and received nice gifts. But most of my big ticket items were purchased by family members who didn't attend my shower. I definitely didn't view it as a way to get everything on my registry.
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I never think of a party as money wasted if people have a good time!
On the other hand, charity galas/events can be money wasted because the specific purpose is to raise money for the organization. "Awareness" isn't enough to spend money putting a gala event on.
I think most charities get any money invested in the event back because so much is donated or given at a deep discount/at cost (e.g. event space, food, servers), and many people organizing the event are volunteers.
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I technically only paid for food, so my return is pretty high, but overall, I agree with the posters above. It's more to spend time with family and friends and unless you have extremely wealthy f & f, most likely, the return is not high at all. It's like a wedding, you really wouldn't get all your money back... Unless you are lucky.
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@stine_ciro: @ms.janedoe: @pinkcupcake: I like that all of you see showers as a way to spend time with family. I read time and time again women (some on HB) talk about wanting/ needing a shower to get stuff or lament their guests went off registery and they *still* have to get their own baby's gear.
@sunny: you bring up a good point. Charities have a hard time getting a check back if all they send out is a brochure to someone's home and pre-paid return envelope. Even when a donor is aware of the worthy cause people want to an event before they part with their funds. So are baby announcements the same? Would people gift the baby items if a shower wasn't thrown.
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I have no idea how much my shower cost. It wasn't cheap, it was coed with about 70 people in a suite at a minor league baseball stadium. My parents paid for that. I did get a ton of gifts, even the higher price ones.
Personally I wouldn't throw my own shower.... just because that's a lot of work for a pregnant lady (even though I'll be throwing a shower for someone else when I'm very pregnant) and I'd feel gift grabby. For me the shower wasn't just about the gifts, it was about celebrating the baby. My friends actually threw me a separate "shower" where gifts weren't involved.
I do think people will send gifts if there's no shower. Obviously you wouldn't get as much.... but I got a ton of gifts from people who didn't come to the shower because they're OOT. I also send gifts to people if I can't make it to the shower, even if I wasn't invited because I'm OOT.
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I've worked on a few fundraisers in the past, and I'd say 85% of the items needed (food, venue, etc) were donated or heavily discounted. The ones I've worked for did not pay full price, if that's what you're asking. In that case, the ROI was high and the event was worth the cause.
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My mom and I talk about this all the time, how it's much easier to just go ahead and buy what you need, instead of host a shower, because in our circle, you don't get back what you spend. I think that's largely because the groups get quite large and everyone expects a plated meal.
I think my mom spent about $1500 on my SIL's shower, I would guess she got about an equal amount back in gifts.
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None of my showers were big to-dos, I'd be surprised if either host (I had a shower in 2 different states) spent more than $100. It was just a fun gathering of friends and family at someone's house with simple food and punch.
So, my ROI would be a lot (too tired to do math this morning...
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